Wheelchairs and Krav Maga

If you already have the hand and elbow strikes from Muay Thai, then you already have a striking style. What gaps are you trying to fill?

Chris

i mean absolutely no offense by this, but if you could work out ways to use your chair as an effective weapon - that's krav maga right there.
also, i'd imagine straight forward western boxing, tai chi chuan or kali stick fighting would be beneficial. this is really interesting to me - developing self defense techniques based on being in a wheelchair is like taking on the invention of a new art! big respect for ya.

Wing Chun might also be an idea, along with some nerve point stuff. Go for it.

I'm affraid I've had no formal Krav training but have seen its syllabus and have a couple of books on it. I think Krav would be a great system for you.

I teach a guy who is also based in a wheelchair and he is an extrememly effective martial artist. Moreover striking, parrying, traping, locking and restraint skills are also essential for you to drill. I think Wing Chun also leads itself very well to Wheel Chair MA's, their method of power generation is very portable to the wheel chair.

Unfortunately, due to the small number of instructors experienced in teaching wheel chair users is limited, so it will require you to adapt a lot of the theory yourself. The Krav guys are reknowned for being sneaky and adapting to whatever needs they have, so I think it would be a very good system to look into. Perhaps JKD would be worth a look aswell.

If you want any advice on how we work please feel free to PM or email me at gavin@gosokempo.com. I'm pretty sure Darren (our Wheel Chair user) would be happy to answer any queries you'd have. Drop me a mail and I'll try and put you in touch. Darren very kindly done a self defence bit on our website here. The video isn't very smooth, its the first time Darren had done a demo, let alone a video...but it'll give you an idea!

Fighting from the chair gives you a very interesting perspective...I'd thoroughly recomemend that everyone tries it. Training with Darren has definately made me appreciate his condition and he's spirit to succeed despite his limitation is a sourse of great inspiration!

Hope that was of some help and good luck with whichever system you decide to pursue.

Gav

I already have tecnhniqes that use my chair as a weapon. And my brother helps me with my western boxing skills and my sister who studied karate up to brown belt she helps me too.

I guess I do have a striking system already. With hand and elbows strikes from Muay Thai and Traditional Karate, Western Boxing, and Wheelchair Techniques.

It felt wierd because I didn't learn it in a formal manner.

I believe any style that has a lot of hand techniques would work for you, including Krav Maga. Have you considered a style that teaches weapon techiques? I was thinking that a possible disadvantage to being in a wheelchair would be reach if you have to rely solely on your arm length. Something like Escrima where you could extend your reach with the fighting sticks (I was also thinking the use of fighting sticks because they're less conspicuous then say a sword ). Just thoughts.

In the general Martial Arts Talk section of this forum I found a writer for Kids on Wheels magazine who wanted to write an article about self-defense for wheelchair-bound children. Rainbowtiger, would you be interested in talking to her? The link for the magazine is http://www.kidsonwheels.us and the woman's post is at
http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/15792441/an/0/page/0#15792441 .

Take care,

A,